Russia’s Pavel Silyagin (left) in action against Cuba’s Julio La Cruz during their 81kg light heavy semi-final in the AIBA World Boxing Championships at Ali Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah Arena yesterday.
By Satya Rath/Doha
Seven action-packed days and 223 pulsating bouts later, the best 20 have been filtered out from the 466 boxers in fray at the AIBA World Boxing Championships, the semifinal rounds of which concluded at Al Sadd’s majestic Ali Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah Arena here yesterday.
Cubans dominate the list with six of them making it to the finals that includes three defending champions. Russian and Uzbek boxers take the next spot with three finalists each. Two fighters each from Ireland, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, one Moroccan, and one Briton complete the final line-up.
After a sedate start to the day’s proceedings, with Cuban Yosbany Veitia easily disposing off his Chinese opponent Jianguan Hu in their 52kg flyweight bout, the evening’s proceedings livened up with the first TKO (Technical Knockout) in the next flyweight semifinal, when number two seed Elvin Mamishzada of Azerbaijan’s blinding left hook sent number three seed Mohamed Flissi of Algeria reeling into the ropes. The Algerian tried to get to his feet, but looked in no fit state to continue.
As for the first bout, Hu, one of the surprise packages of the tournament, looked a bit tired, owing perhaps to his strenuous win over Kazakhstan’s Olzhas Sattibayev in the quarter-finals. On the other side, Veitia, an American Confederation silver medalist, looked fresh. Hu showed all the spirit that got him to this far in the tournament, but in the end class prevailed and the Cuban was all class. Mamishzada better watch out.
The Cuban hegemony continued in the next bout as well, with 60kg top seed Lazaro Alvarez showing too much power and guile against his Uzbek opponent Elnur Abduraimov to claim a unanimous decision.
It was, however, a slugfest in the other lightweight semifinal between the second and third seeds of the category — Brazil’s Robson Donato Conceicao and Albert Selimov of Azerbaijan — with neither ready to concede an inch. The Brazilian looked the superior puncher in the first round--the deep cut on Selimov’s forehead that forced the referee to stop the bout for 15-20 seconds asserting that fact—but the former world champion looked in no mood to give up and was all over Conceicao in the next two rounds, ultimately forcing an unanimous decision from the judges.
Kazakhstan’s Daniyar Yeleussinov, the top seed in the 69kg welterweight category, didn’t look at his best against Azeri Parviz Baghirov but still won unanimously to book a final bout against Morocco’s WSB revelation Mohamed Rabii, who had to exhaust all his resources to get the better of Chinese warrior Liu Wei. The judges were split in the first two rounds, where Wei clearly looked the better boxer, but looked a bit tired in the final round where the Moroccan landed some clean punches.
Popular Irish boxer Joseph Ward, who seems to have a dedicated fan base in Doha, too was given a tough outing by his Uzbek challenger Elshod Rasulov in their 81kg light heavy bout, but the crowd favourite prevailed in the end. The fight was not without some drama though, with a right jab from Ward resulting in a deep cut just above the Uzbek’s right eye at the start of the first round. That set the tone of the bout, and Ward, cheered on wildly by his supporters who had packed one end of the stands, thrived with a unanimous decision in the end.
But Ward may not find the going that easy in the final, as standing before him will be Cuban maestro Julio La Cruz, who looked imperious in his unanimous points win over hardworking Russian Pavel Silyagin.
Closing out the semi-final action yesterday were the 91kg super heavyweights, with the imposing Ivan Dychko, the top seed from Kazakhstan, continuing his impressive run against Uzbek opponent Bakhodir Jalolov, albeit in a 2-1 split decision. The big Kazakh will meet Frenchman Tony Yoka who defeated Joe Joyce, the lone Briton in the fray. The finals are scheduled for tomorrow and Thursday.
